Bonds
by WiseChic
Summary: She has been alone for awhile now. Until she comes across Rick's group. The bonds she forms cant be broken. They struggle and persevere together. And there's Carl. Cold, serious, sarcastic. A survivor. Just like her.
1. Silence

Quiet.

That's how I'd describe it.

Terrifying.

Silence is never a good sign.

I was damn near starving when I met him. Little more than a damn kid. Of course, so was I, but that's besides the point.

He was thin, his clothes hanging off of him like they were 2 sizes too big, which they probably were. His face was was covered in dirt, grimy and nasty. His eyes were cold and unforgiving. To any sane person, the sight would have been terrifying. But, my mental health is probably questionable in this new world. He didn't scare me. I could take one look at him and realize that this kid should not have survived as long as he had. There was something incredibly...innocent about him.

The other thing that struck me about this kid...

He's an idiot.

Bang!

Bang!

Two shots rang out in the hot, humid Georgian afternoon.

What kind of an idiot...

That's when I saw him. A kid in a sheriff's hat, shooting at shufflers, no doubt attracting the attention of other shufflers. He was so focused on the few in front of him that he didn't notice the one coming up behind him.

I have 2 choices.

I could let his stupid self die horrendously, or I could save him...

My conscious overrode my grumbling stomach.

I pull out my crossbow, load it and fire at the shuffler behind him. They both go down and now the kid is struggling with a shuffler on top of him with his gun out of reach.

I shake my head and run to him, pulling out my machete and striking the shuffler in the back of his head.

"I had it handled." He grumbled to himself as he stood.

"Oh yeah totally, no weapon, stuck on the ground, terrified, I'm sure you had the situation completely under control," I rolled my eyes, shaking the blood off of my machete.

"You by yourself?" I asked.

He froze, giving me a calculating look, "Yes."

"You're a damn liar, who are you with out here?" I said, seeing right through his lie, "Look. I'm just here to scavenge and I don't want any surprises when I'm doing that."

He continued to give me that look, most people might have seen it and walked away. Dropped the question and moved along.

Fortunately, I am not most people.

He seemed to be having a debate in his head on whether to trust me or not. To be fair, I had saved his life the least he could do was show a little trust.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the look melted before my eyes. His shoulders slumped, he adjusted his hat,looking at the sky, and when he looked at me again, he looked drained. With tired eyes said,

"If you try anything, I will kill you, got it?"

I mock saluted him, "Aye,aye, capitan."

He rolled his eyes, the corners of his mouth twitching like he wanted to smile, and lead me to a house in the community. We went in through the back and made our way to the front of the house where a couch was backed against a door. On this couch laid a very dead looking man.

I looked at the kid again, "Is he dead?"

He shook his head, "That's my dad."

I nodded. Poor kid, no wonder he was out there alone. If his dad was in this state, he might not last much longer.

A thought occurred to me then.

"Hey."

He slowly turned away from his father to look at me.

"What's your name? I realize we never actually introduced ourselves like normal people."

He cracked a smile. Progress on the trusting thing.

"It's Carl. Carl Grimes. My dad is Rick."

"Well, Carl Grimes, it's a pleasure to meet you." I laugh, cracking a smile of my own.

"What about you?" He says, putting his hat on a table and sitting down across the room from his father.

"Terra." I say, sinking the floor in between Carl and Rick, but against a wall.

"No last name?"

"Nope. Just Terra."

"Well, Just Terra, thank you for saving me today."

I smirk, "Something tells me, this won't be the last time I do that."

He makes a face at me, and I laugh.

Rick groans in his comatose state.

"How long he been like this?"

"Couple days."

My stomach grumbles. Carl tosses me a can of...green beans. Yuck.

But, I'm hungry, so I eat the can of disgustingness.

That was the first time I met Carl Grimes.

I left shortly after this conversation. Rick hadn't woken up yet, Carl needed to care for him, and I needed to move along and continue looking for my group. We had gotten separated when a herd came through and I know they're alive, I just have to find them somehow.

I said my goodbyes to Carl Grimes.

It was only a few days later that we saw each other again. I was just running in the woods, away from the shuffler when my foot got caught in one of those rope traps that yanked me up by the feet.

"People actually do this?!" I said in frustration.

My machete fell off my waist before I could grab it. I dropped my pack, too. I tried to reach my ankles which proved to be quite difficult. Eventually, I was able to free myself, landing hard on my back.

That's gonna be sore.

I grabbed my pack and machete and kept moving.

The sun was beginning it's descent, probably about five o'clock, I made my way into a clearing in the woods.

That's when I saw it. A massive herd, probably at least a couple hundred strong. 3 figures ran ahead of the herd 2 adults and a teen.

Of course, the herd that I was running from deciding to reappear from behind me, it was smaller but was quickly catching up.

How did I not hear them?

The group was running right towards me. As soon as I saw the sheriff's hat I knew it was Carl.

"Nope!" I yelled while sprinting past them. They quickly followed my lead running in the same direction. Before we reach the other side, the shuffler catch up to us. Now we are fighting and trying to move forward at the same time.

I'm cutting and chopping with my machete utterly focused at not getting bitten.

Suddenly to my left I hear, "Carl!" I look and see Carl not too far from me desperately shooting at the shufflers, but he is outnumbered and running out of ammunition.

I kick the shuffler in front of me, knocking a group of them to the ground like dominos. I fight my way to Carl who only has a knife with him. When I reach him I get back to back with him.

"You keep contact with me, we're gonna fight our way through this. Got it?" I say breathlessly.

I don't wait for a response and immediately begin pushing towards the woods in front of me.

By the time we get to the cover of the woods we are covered in guts and blood. Immediately, we break into a dead sprint, trying to put as much distance between us and them as possible. Night has almost fallen by the time we stop to breathe.

I look at Carl.

"Do you think they made it?" He whispers so low, I wasn't even sure it was meant for me. He must of lost a lot of people close to him.

"Of course they did. Don't worry, we'll find them." I put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

When night falls we sit together, backs against a tree, sides touching, listening for the sound of feet coming through the shrubs to find us.

But our ears are met with silence.

SO HOW WAS THAT FOR A FIRST CHAPTER?

Please leave some reviews for me. I've had this story sitting in the back of my mind for awhile now, but never got around to writing it.

Tell me if you want Carl's POV. I'm debating whether or not to include Carl's POV.

See ya next chapter.

~WiseChic~


	2. Stormy Night

For weeks we travel by ourselves, looking for any sign of Rick and Michonne. Michonne being the mysterious woman figure who was with them before we got separated. Shufflers come and go and Carl rarely speaks. He walks forlornly, kicking at rocks half-heartedly while I follow behind him. Day in and day out I attempt to get a word out of him.

"Okay, stop. That's enough." I huff.

He stops a few paces ahead of me, turning to look at me, surprised.

"Look. I get it. It's tough shit we can't find them," I start pacing, "But, you need to accept it so we can move forward. This whole silent, brooding is unacceptable." I drop my hands to my sides.

"Bottom line...You need to talk to me. Or I will go insane." I say matter-of-factly.

His mouth twitches into a smile almost involuntarily. A small laugh escapes his lips.

"You're right."

"And so he speaks!" I say with mock surprise.

"Shut up," He shakes his head at me continuing to walk.

"He apparently also missed that the point of that outburst was to get him to talk." I grumble.

"I heard that." He says with a laugh.

I huff, catching up to him. After that, he talked more, told me all about his group. How they started outside Atlanta, their stint at the CDC (um..yikes), the explosion (double yikes), surviving in the woods, and then the prison...

He speaks of the prison the least. I can hear the hatred in his voice when he mentions the Governor, self-righteous son of a bitch from what I hear. Killed someone close to him if I had to guess.

I told him about my group. About my best friend/sister, Judith. About our leader, Elena, and our mother figure, Rachel. I told him about this time that we had to sit on the roof of a house for 7 days straight because of the herd coming out of Atlanta. I told them about how Judith and I would go hunting, and compete for how much food we could bring back. How Rachel would scold us for arguing and how Elena always kept her cool even when things got crazy. It hurt to talk about them since they weren't with me at the moment, but I had faith that I'd find them, just like I had faith we'd find Carl's group.

About a month after we were separated from Rick and Michonne, Carl and I found refuge in a farmhouse. There was a storm coming in, and we wanted to be inside when it hit us. Carl knocked loudly on the door, we heard no sounds, but we still carefully made our way through each room. Clearing them one by one.

We started on the ground floor, cleared the basement, and then the upper floor. Last, we entered the attic...or we would've but when we opened the trap door some shufflers were waiting.

"Agh!" I jumped in surprise, backing into Carl who caught me by the arms.

One of the shufflers got caught in between the door and the ceiling, it sat there reaching for us, growling.

"Shut up."

"I didn't say anything." He said, biting back a laugh, but unable to contain his smile.

There were only two shufflers in the attic, easily dispatched. When the storm rolled in we were by the large attic window, sitting across from each other eating disgusting canned vegetables. I could see for miles outside on a clear day, but the storm limited the visibility to just barely being able to make out figures by the treeline, about a quarter of a mile maybe. I could see the shufflers changing direction almost every time thunder sounded. I could see them getting stuck in the mud, falling face-first, still trying to go to the thunder.

The things we do to survive.

We talk for what seems like hours, about our life before the end of the world. There's not much to tell considering how young we were when it all went to shit. But, it was nice to share some happy memories for once. Eventually, I start yawning, my eyes feeling heavy.

"I'll take first watch, get some rest," He says.

I snatch his hat from him tipping it on my head so it covers my eyes. I hear him move away from the window to watch the door.

I smiled saying, "Who said chivalry was dead?"

I take the hat off briefly, so I can lean down and peck his cheek. I put the hat back on and close my eyes.

"This does not mean I like you." I mutter.

A laugh. "Goodnight Terra."

.Carl.

"Mm. 'Night Carl." Terra says drifting off to sleep.

I sit there watching her for awhile, my hat low on her face, legs bent, arms resting on her knees.

She looks like she was born to survive in this world. Her hair is brown with streaks of blonde, and it stays tied up in a ponytail. Her skin is dark, too. Not like Michonne's, closer to T-Dog's complexion.

She wears virtually no clothing, very short denim shorts, spaghetti strap shirt with a loose tank top over it. She wears combat boots most of the time, but a lot of times, especially when she's hunting, she prefers to go barefoot.

She says it's easier to move when you are wearing less clothes. She's barefoot now, her boots discarded on the floor.

The storm still rages outside. But, between lightning strikes and thunderclaps, I can hear Terra' s soft breathing. It's very calming compared to the storm. I don't know how she sleeps through all that noise.

After a particularly loud thunderclap, I hear Terra muttering to herself before sliding down so her back was flat on the seat, knees still bent, one arm laying on her stomach, the other hanging off the side. I carefully grab her hand and out put it on her stomach with the other one.

Just before dawn, I wake her and she joins me on the floor, stretching her arms before settling next to me cross-legged.

"Go to sleep you idiot." Were the first words out of her mouth.

I rolled my eyes at her and laid down next to her, hands behind my head. I drift in and out of sleep for a few hours. Probably wasted half a day, but the storm had only lightened up a little over night, and it probably was not safe to travel yet.

I wake to the sound of a gun being cocked.

.Terra.

I aim Carl's gun at the attic door where someone or something is trying to get in. Carl is up in an instant. We both wait, patiently for the door to open and reveal the identity of whoever is trying to get in.

The door flies open after a few seconds and two people come in, quickly shutting the door.

Carl, poor thing, is still rubbing the sleep from his eyes. I, on the other hand, am pointing the gun right at the first figure to come in who is also pointing one at me.

When Carl finally wakes up completely, he grabs my arm,

"Stop. Don't shoot." I grit my teeth as the man lowers his gun, forcing me to do the same.

The two figures on the far side of the room finally come closer, so we can make out their faces.

It's Rick and Michonne.

 **.A/N.**

 **Hope you enjoyed that chapter. Please Review, share your thoughts, suggestions? I threw in a Carl POV was it okay? Should I use it more often? Lemme know.**

 **In other news I'll try to squeeze out one more chapter before I'm off of Winter Break, because after that I will be slammed by schoolwork and testing and will not be able to update too often. Thanks for the support.**

 **~WiseChic~**


	3. Meet n Greet

Michonne and I fought through the storm trying to find shelter, barely able to see in front of us. It had been raging for the entire night, but we had seen a glimpse of a house and we were going to make it there if it took all night and day. We had spent a better part of three weeks combing the woods for any sign of Carl, while avoiding the stragglers of the herd we were running from originally.

Neither of us slept much in the storm, we were on the lookout for walkers who straggled by in small groups every few hours, confused by the thunder coming from all directions sending them into a frenzy with each boom. When we broke through the woods into the clearing with the house, the storm had only slightly lightened and we could see figures moving in the clearing. I could only hope that Carl and whoever that girl was had reached shelter during the storm.

I enter the house first, Michonne behind me with her sword drawn. We clear each floor together and when we reach the attic entrance, I hear a slight creak, signaling that someone, or something, was in there. We enter the attic.

Two figures quickly stand, one pointing a gun, the other still in the process of waking up. My gun is pointed at the two figures, once my eyesight adjusts I make out that they are both kids, but I can't make out their features because what little light is shining on their backs, casting a silhouette over their faces.

Could it be...

As soon as the figure on the left tells the other one not to shoot, I know it is.

"Carl!" I crush him in bear hug. After a little more than a month of not knowing if he was alive, or among the undead, the weight of the world felt lifted from my shoulders knowing he is alive, and we found him.

When we finally separate I notice the girl who was pointing the gun earlier standing awkwardly behind Carl by the window, fiddling with the gun faking casualness. I study her as Michonne embraces Carl.

"I'll just...give you guys a moment," She says handing Carl his gun and moving as far away from us as she possibly could in the available space.

We take a seat by the window where the storm has continued to rage, leaving visibility limited.

Michonne speaks first, "Who's the girl?"

"The girl I told you about. Terra. She saved my life while _you,"_ he says gesturing to me, "were comatose, and before Michonne found us."

"She saved you from the converging herds?" I asked.

"I mean, she _helped."_

"I saved your ass!" Terra yells from across the attic.

Carl sticks his tongue out at her. Michonne and I share a look and laugh at the two of them who have seemed to grow to be friends in their short time together.

I turn to her, "Terra, right?"

"Yep."

"Come over here, no need to sit all the way over there, we won't bite."

She walks over slowly, sizing us up. She must decided that I wasn't lying because she shrugged, plopping down on the floor, facing us, in front of Carl.

I level my gaze at her, "Thank you for taking care of Carl when we couldn't."

She mumbled something about him being an "anti-social brooder."

"It was no problem," She says clearly, smirking at Carl, "I'm sure it won't be the last time I have to do it."

In response, Carl throws his hat at her, which she then insists that she will keep. Michonne and I listen to their light-hearted bickering for awhile, relishing in the feeling of not worrying about him every second of the day.

When night falls, the storm finally subsides, slowing to a light drizzle before stopping altogether. We all eat food from our rations, I decide to take first watch. Terra makes herself comfortable on the large windowsill, gently placing Carl's hat next to her, Carl is sitting against the wall, next to her head and Michonne situates herself between Carl and I, one leg bent with her arm resting on it, the other on her sheathed sword.

The night passes peacefully, and I almost let sleep take me. About 3 hours later I wake Michonne who takes second watch, and I drift off to sleep, the sounds of the kids' slow breathing calming my nerves.

.Terra.

When the sun rises I'm the first to wake. Sleeping on the windowsill does that for you. Sometime during the night my arm must have fell off the side because I could feel Carl's shirt under my fingers and his head was leaning against it.

I carefully removed my arm and moved to a sitting position, my legs hanging off the side of windowsill. The sun was actually shining, the storm having abated sometime during the night. It looked to be about noon. I stood and carefully made my way around Rick and Michonne who slept peacefully next to each other, weapons not far from their grasp. I slide my boots on, silently tying the laces, and pick up my crossbow and bag, leaving my machete so they know I'd be back.

I carefully lift the attic door, and make my way into the house all the way out the front door. I go into the edge of the woods, remove my boots, and begin my hunt.

.Terra.

I return to the attic with my catch in my bag, some squirrels and a few bird eggs tucked safely into my pack. I can hear the murmur of voices as I climb the ladder and when I open the door and climb inside I'm met with arguing.

"You see! I told you she was just going hunting!"

"It's too dangerous to be out there alone, Ca-"

"She's obviously fine and I bet she brought breakfast. Like she _always does_."

Carl and Rick are locked in one of those test-of-wills arguments. Arguing for the sake of arguing.

I stay clear of them and join Michonne who is a little further away, rolling her eyes at them.

"Is this normal?" I ask as I sit down and began taking out everything I caught.

"Only since the prison, Carl's a lot more independent than Rick would like and I'm sure it scares him, as a father."

I nod my head and begin the process of skinning the squirrels and separating the edible parts from the inedible ones. I take out a small bowl and some wood, and I start a small fire inside the bowl. I use that fire to cook the meat, which eventually draws the boys' argument to a close as they take a seat across from each other on either side of me, Michonne in front of me. We all eat the meat before I take out the bird eggs, I'm not sure what kind of bird it is, but food is food.

I pass out one egg to everybody.

"I still don't know how you do this," Carl laughs as I shoot back with,

"I don't know how you _don't_ do this."

Rick and Michonne are giving us weird looks.

"Observe," I say dramatically. I use a squirrel bone to poke a hole in the top of the egg and then proceed to eat the egg raw, drinking the insides of of the egg before crushing the shell and tossing it.

"Ta-da!" I grin at them, I am met with laughter.

"I suppose that's one way to eat an egg," Rick says with a small laugh.

"I think I'll stick with cooked eggs," Michonne says, her face twisted in mild disgust.

"Hey, hey, hey. First, don't knock it till you try it. And second," I put up two fingers, "Times are hard, man."

They all laugh at that. It took some maneuvering, but we somehow cooked each of their eggs without setting someone on fire, they were kinda like boiled eggs, without the boiling. Actually, it was just us throwing the eggs into the little fire and poking at them occasionally with the squirrel bones.

Like I said. Times are hard.

.A/N.

So I want to say thank you to Lavender who told me I should use everyone's POV, it actually really helped with this chapter to use Rick's POV I hope I did him justice.

So as promised this is the last chapter for now I go back to school tomorrow. I'll try to update maybe once every 2-3 weeks and spend more time writing it so you'll get longer chapters less often.

If you read all of that thank you for reading! And as always please drop a review even if it's to tell me it sucked, I want honest feedback.

Till next time!

~WiseChic~


	4. Road to Terminus

I could tell you all the boring details of walking aimlessly through the trees, the bonding moments, the terrifying moments, the embarrassing moments, but I won't, maybe we'll revisit it later. I'll spare you that pain and skip to a more interesting part of the story.

Terminus.

.Terra.

When we found the message from Maggie, they were excited, there was more pep in their step. I simply carried on, I didn't know Maggie, I felt happy that they were happy I suppose.

So, we continued on along the train tracks to where all tracks meet.

Terminus. A beacon of hope. I don't trust those bullshit signs. And I decided to tell Carl that.

"Those signs are bullshit." I said, slowing my walking pace down a little so Carl could hear me but Rick and Michonne couldn't.

He gave me an annoyed look, "Maggie is gonna be there, we have to try."

"I'm getting bad vibes from that sign and those words, Carl. What if those people are luring us to our deaths?"

He gave me another look and rolled his eyes. He takes his hat off to run his fingers through his hair before replacing the hat on his head.

"You're being overly cautious. I get that you've been on your own for awhile and maybe you're just getting paranoid."

"Ah, yes. I'm going to definitely trust the kid whose life I've had to save multiple times."

"I don't know what to tell you, Terra. If Maggie is on her way to Terminus...if she's _alive_ , we have got to try."

I huff at that, crossing my arms, but I continue walking and I don't bring it up again.

The next day however, I was walking in front of all three of them and something caught my eye.

"Stop." I throw my hand out to the side, signaling not to go any further.

"What is it? What's wrong, Terra?" Rick asked, with growing concern.

On a tree with a hanging walker, a handwritten note was snagged there by a dagger.

I take the dagger, and take the note into my hands.

It reads:

 _Last one there is a rotting undead corpse. ;)_

 _-Judith_

"That little _...bitch."_

"Uh, Terra?" Carl says, carefully testing my reaction.

"Well, now I _have_ to go to Terminus."

I re-dagger the note to the tree in case Rachel and Elena come through here.

We continue our trek to Terminus, my step filled with much more vigor than before.

I still had a bad feeling about that place, but if Judith is going there than I have to make sure she's safe.

I'm much more quiet now, focused on getting to Terminus safely.

Rick amd Michonne looked at Carl with questions in their eyes, Carl just shrugged in response. I clenched and unclenched my fists repeatedly as I walked.

 _Just wait till I get my hands on you, Judith..._

.Carl.

Terra isn't one for _conventional_ terms of endearment, but I could hear some very choice names coming from her mouth after reading that note.

I also heard things like "wring", "strangle", "stab", and other equally deadly threats. I'm hoping that's just how she shows affection because if not, whoever wrote that note has another thing coming.

Time blurred together, minutes turning into hours into days of travel. Scavenging for supplies and hiding from small and large herds made up most of our days. Setting up watch and rationing food made up our nights. It wasn't the worst it had ever been, but it was by no means the best.

Nothing seemed to scare or deter Terra, in any case. She took every challenge in stride, overcomes every obstacle, and is almost always the first one to react to any situation.

So, when I saw her eyes gripped with fear for the first time, it's understandable why I became scared for a moment as well.

I was on second watch, after Michonne, and about halfway through Terra becomes restless. She twitches in her sleep, fingers clawing into the ground, feet sliding the dirt and debris around frantically.

She's laying next to me, and since all her movement is making noise, I shake her awake. In hindsight, I was probably too rough with her because in no time her knife was at my throat, eyes wide,wild, and full of terror. She was breathing hard and half on my lap, like she was trying to get leverage to stab me.

She blinked a few times before realizing what she was doing and that's when I saw it. A little reflection of light fall down her face.

Terra was crying.

I didn't know what happened, or if I could help, but I could offer comfort and she took it gratefully. When I opened my arms for her, she was already coming in for a hug. She cried silently, holding onto me for dear life, her face buried in my chest. It was strange to see someone so strong look like that and not know why. This girl I had known for only a few weeks, who never even _hinted_ at this kind of behavior, was just sobbing in front of me.

She took a shaky breath, and locked into me with a steely gaze, "We will never _ever_ talk about this. It never happened, got it?"

I nodded quickly, not wanting to upset her in a much more dangerous way.

"Go to sleep, I'll take next watch."

Terra pulls out her crossbow and starts cleaning it, tuning me out. I settle down on the ground, closing my eyes and listening to the night sounds which now included the occasional sniffle from Terra.

Morning came and Terra was back to her sarcastic, snide, annoyingly playful self. This was proven to me by the cold water that woke me up.

" _Jesus Christ!_ " I yell, jumping up from the ground, looking for the culprit.

I turn around, barely catching Terra toss the bucket at Michonne, who catches it with ease. My dad is close by laughing softly to himself as he packs up our stuff.

"I saw that."

She tried for innocence, "Saw what?"

"Nothing."

"Exactly." She laughs, and continues doing whatever she was doing before.

I scoff to myself.

 _I'll show you. Just you wait, Terra._

Show her I did.

On a particularly hot day, our group had found a small river.

Terra and Michonne were standing by the edge, pointing at something a little distance away. Neither of them were paying attention so I signaled to my dad to be quiet.

I slowly crept up to them and pulled Terra into the river with me.

"Ah!" She screamed, "Car-!"

The water, as an added bonus, was freezing.

When we resurfaced, I was laughing whole-heartedly joined by my dad and even Michonne let out a small chuckle. I was grinning ear-to-war at Terra who had her arms crossed over her chest. Her hair, now soaked, hung over her chest, her clothes clung to her body now.

"Oh you think this is funny, huh?" Her hands were now on her hips, eyebrow raised as a threat, I stopped laughing for a second.

Then.

She cracked a smirk at me, "Oh you're gonna get it now, tough guy," was the only warning I got as she tackled me into the water.

.Rick.

Terra tackled Carl and for the next thirty minutes they relaxed in the river, splashing at each other and tackling each other into the water.

"They're like siblings already," Michonne commented as we sat there watching them.

"Carl needs this. He needs a friend, his age, that is," I added that as Michonne gave me a sideways look, "there's just some things he won't want to talk to us about, and he needs someone he can relate to."

I glance back over at the two of them, they're playing keep-away with Carl's boots, Terra running away from him, and Carl trying to keep up, but failing miserably.

About fifteen minutes later they crawl out of the river, breathing hard, and flop on their backs.

"I won." Terra gasps.

"Barely, you liar." Carl says rolling into his stomach.

"Bitch, I might be."

"Language." I say reflexively, Terra sticks her tongue out at me in response.

I was skeptical about Terra when I first officially met her, but she's grown on me in the past few weeks. There's a strange sort of ease when she's around. Not because she puts us at ease, but because she blatantly ignores any tension or awkwardness and fills it with conversation, or actions. Whenever Carl and I start to argue even a little bit, she immediately starts talking about something else, distracts Carl, and pulls our attention to her instead of each other. We don't argue as much as we would if she hadn't been here.

"Alright. We've had our fun let's keep moving, we still have a half of a day before we need to stop," I say standing up and brushing the dirt off my pants.

"Aye, aye Captain Crunch!" Terra mock salutes me and quickly packs all her stuff into her bag. Carl and Michonne follow suit.

There we were, the four of us, on the road again, headed to Terminus.

.Terra.

Warning you right now. The next part of this story might be disturbing to some people. It was fairly traumatic.

.Terra.

I wish good things didn't have to end. We were in an SUV, resting on the side of a road for the night. Michonne, Carl, and I had gone to sleep in the car while Rick took first watch.

I jumped awake a second before being grabbed by the ankle and dragged to the asphalt, my arms scraping painfully as they took the impact. I'm being dragged painfully by the ankle away from everyone else. I hear the fighting going on, see Rick and an old man, a group of men surrounding a dark figure, Carl and Michonne dragged away on the other side of the road.

And then they're out of view.

Asphalt changes to dirt beneath my fingers.

My crossbow and machete were still in the car. Everyone was still on road.

I was alone.

"You're a pretty one," A man with a face cloaked in shadow said. I could already hear in his voice what his plan for me was.

I couldn't breathe. I don't remember screaming, but I'm sure I did. He was clawing at my clothes, ripping my shirt in several places.

"Stay- Still!" He grunted as I struggled to get away from him.

And then, I had this profound clarity. My arms were pinned above my head, my legs were all but useless. I had exactly 1 defense left.

And I used it.

The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth as I surged up to meet his ugly grin and bite into his throat. I but right into his Adam's Apple. In a furious frenzy, I pull back, teeth still locked around his throat.

When his body falls on the floor next to me and the moonlight shines on his face. I can finally see his face, it's a mix between shock and horror. I spit the disgusting flesh out of my mouth as my own horror at my actions sets in.

I empty my stomach on the ground next to me. I don't know how long I sit there before the thing starts moving again, but I'm frozen.

"Terra!" I don't register the new shuffler crawling towards me or the sound of my name.

I dont register the shuffler getting ready to bite my leg.

I do; however, register the blood splattering my face as a crossbow bolt appears through it's forehead and I feel the blood dripping from it's skull onto my leg.

"Terra!" I turn my head towards the sound of a voice before being crushed by another body.

I tense up.

I relax.

It's Carl.

I'm safe.

 **.A/N.**

 **So now that I've pretty much established how everyone feels about each other I will be progressing through the story more quickly until Alexandria where the real story begins. The next few chapters will cover Terminus and then the road to Alexandria.**

 **The chapters will be longer as well, it has been a crazy past few weeks for me and writing was nearly impossible. So, bear with me, the chapters will come.**

 **As always drop a review lemme know what you think. Your reviews inspire me to write more.**

 **See ya next time,**

 **~WiseChic~**


	5. Moving Forward

.Carl.

When I was dragged out of the car, thrown on the ground by that man...I was terrified. I was powerless against him. I couldn't help my father, help Michonne, help Daryl, help Terra. I was useless.

Utterly useless. I saw Terra being dragged into the woods, clawing at the ground for grip, but there was none, she is soon out of sight.

Much of it is a blur and dad bites the man's neck, taking a chunk out. There was so much blood. But, the man on top of me, undressing himself...

I can't understand what's going on, I don't understand. And then, my dad gets him off of me. I run to Michonne who holds me close as my dad brutally kills that man with a knife. His eyes were filled with hatred.

And then I heard it. A bloodcurdling scream that would attract any walker within 10 miles.

Terra.

I break away from Michonne Machine and run into the woods were I saw her being dragged away.

"Terra!" There's no response.

Daryl shows up near me, searching the ground before going in the other direction. We enter a small clearing, Michonne and my dad behind us.

"Terra!" A walker is preparing to bite her and Daryl shoots it with a crossbow just in time. She's staring blankly in front of her. I run to her and hold her to me tightly.

Her mouth and throat are soaked in blood and by the state of the walker, I know exactly what happened. Her breathing was slow. Calm. Steady.

"Terra?" I move back to look at her and her hand, quick as ever, grabs my shirt, like her life depended on it.

She finally looks at me. I can see the barely contained tears in her eyes, hiding a boiling rage, but beneath that I can see a hint of fear. Her shirt is in tatters, ripped in many places, blood-soaked in others.

The others are silent, watching us carefully.

Her hand relaxes and something in her eyes changes, hardens.

"This was my favorite shirt," She says, cracking a small half-smile, "And now, I'm half-naked."

Her skin was definitely showing a lot more than before, her tank top ripped below her chest, revealing her stomach, her plaid shirt not much more than a few pieces of cloth hanging from her shoulders. Her hand is still resting on my chest.

"Here," I hand her my button up shirt. She take it and puts it on.

"This is like 2 sizes too big."

I roll my eyes and help her stand. She buttons the shirt up to her chest and rolls the sleeves up to her elbows. She uses the scraps of her shirt to wipe the blood from her mouth and neck and tosses it to the ground.

My dad, Michonne, and Daryl stood awkwardly at the edge of the clearing, watching us. I can feel Terra's tension beside me.

"Okay, cut the pity party. Let's go," Terra shoos at them, making them start the walk back. I stay a few paces back with Terra. We stay silent for awhile, and I feel Terra's hand slide into mine and squeeze. I squeeze back, glancing at her briefly.

When we get back to the road no one says anything about us holding hands. I help Terra back into the car. My dad stays outside with Daryl and Michonne climbs in the front seat, leaning it all the way back, to sleep. Terra leans against me falling asleep quickly. She looks exhausted.

We all are.

I move a strand of her brown hair from her face. She always looks so peaceful when she sleeps. The moon casts a shadow across her body.

"Carl?" I hear her whisper.

"Yeah?"

"You're really comfortable," I laugh quietly at that.

"Go to sleep, Terra."

She stretches her neck up to my face, placing a soft kiss on my cheek.

"Goodnight."

I give her a kiss on the top of her head.

"Goodnight, Terra."

.Terra.

That night I dreamt of him. The boy who took everything from me. The boy who stole my life away from me.

Never again will I be the way I was.

Never again.

"No!" I gasp, sitting straight up. I'm alone in the car. I silently panic for a second before I hear the voices outside the door.

"Ah, and so the Sleeping Beauty awakens," Carl teases me. It around noon. Almost an entire day of travel gone.

"Aw, Carl," I say in a mocking tone, "You think I'm pretty?" I played with my hair and blinked at him innocently as the man, Michonne, and Rick laugh at Carl's blushing face.

I grin and sit next to him.

"So. Who are you?" I ask the man.

As he opens his mouth to answer I cut in, "By the way you handled that crossbow last night, I'd say you're Daryl, yeah?"

He nods his head, "You're Terra, right? They've been telling me about you."

"All good things I hope."

"Said you use a crossbow, too."

I smile proudly, "Yep. And I'm a pretty good shot if I do say so, myself."

"Huh...Well we'll see about that."

Daryl and I got along pretty well. He had a strange sense of humor, but we were kindred spirits. Crossbow, tracker, raised-by-wolves kind of people.

Daryl was like Michonne in the way that I strangely related to Daryl in the way that Carl related to Michonne. Maybe it's leftover psychological issues. Unfinished business and all that.

"There's no way in hell you can track better than me," Daryl's refusal to accept my tracking skills does not deter me.

"I've been tracking since birth."

"So have I and that's a helluva lot longer than you."

I hear stifled laughter from behind us. I stick my tongue out at Daryl and he sticks his tongue out at me, mocking me.

The Incident is all but behind us.

We travel for a few hours before resting along a small stream about a half mile from the road. I immediately set to scrubbing my clothes clean, stripping out of my shirt and pants and washing most of the blood and dirt out of them, the rest of the group follow suit. Michonne and I sit away from the boys who are in their underwear and, being perfect gentlemen, are refusing to look in our direction.

"You'd think they'd never seen a half-naked woman before," Michonne comments.

"I don't know the existence of that one," I jab my thumb behind me at Carl, "proves that isn't true for Rick."

That gets an actual laugh from Michonne. The water is actually a little warm now that it's later in the day. Michonne and I talk for awhile while we wait for our clothes to dry in the sun.

"So..." She says, smiling suspiciously at me.

I lean slightly away from her, "So...?"

"What's the deal with you and Carl?"

"What? There's no deal. He's my friend," I say, glancing at the boys briefly who have taken to sitting on the ground talking and laughing to themselves.

"Seems to me to be a little more than friends."

Just then Carl turns and makes eye contact with me before turning red and turning away quickly. I laughed. I _was_ still half-naked.

Michonne isn't one to pry. Or talk, really. If she was asking there was a reason.

"Are you asking me because you're curious or because someone put you up to it?" I raise an eyebrow at her.

"Rick. I think he thinks there is something more between you two besides being friends."

I nod in response returning my eyes to the boys who were now laying down on the grass, enjoying the sunlight. In 2 hours the clothes are dry enough to wear, the rest of the dampness would dry up by the night.

Rick estimates we have about another day of travel as long as we don't have anymore hiccups.

We fucking jinxed it.

.Carl.

"A fucking _HERD_. You've got to be shitting me!" Terra complained. My dad just gave her a look because of the cursing.

We watched them traveling in the opposite way of us. That is, we were traveling forward and they were traveling across our path. We could see them from a mile out.

"We'll have to wait 'em out from here. Can't take the chance of them changing direction and blocking our path more," My father said, trying to take the safest action. Everyone was on board.

Except Terra.

"Why don't we just go _through_ the herd?" She gave my dad a look of disbelief.

"We'll get killed, Terra. Safest option is to-"

"Go through it. I've done it plenty of times. You get some stray walkers, you gut them, and you wear their decomposing insides like a shield against the undead, they won't even realize we're there," Terra cut him off to explain her plan.

"No, we are not taking that chance. That's final, Terra."

Terra did not accept that. She turned on her heel and ran into the woods. I made to run after her, but my dad grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"What are you doing we have to go get her!"

"She made her decision, Carl."

I clenched my fist at my side, staring him down. Michonne separated us, placing a calming hand on my shoulder while Daryl have my dad a slap on the back.

And so we waited.

An hour later, Terra returns.

She comes dragging two dead walkers behind her. She drops them in front of us and begins working. She stabs one in the chest, dragging her machete through to the hips, the smell of rotting organs spreads through the air.

Methodically, she slathers the disgusting insides of the walker on her arms, her chest, her legs, her back. She scoops some out and spreads it through her hair, wipes it on her face, avoiding her mouth and eyes.

She stands, machete in hand, covered in walker insides and looks my father in the eye.

"Deuces, Rick. I'll see you on the other side."

Just like that, she leaves. She doesn't look back, and we watch her make her way down the road.

We see her enter the herd. I never see her leave it.

.Terra.

I join the herd in the middle of the road, and walk with them as we enter the forest on the other side. As I walk, I make my way closer to the side of the herd I want to be on and as the stray shufflers veer off of the herd, I follow them and stay in the cover of the woods, continuing my journey to Terminus.

Nothing was going to stop me from getting to Judith. Nothing.

And when the herd finally past and Carl's group caught up to me, I was sitting down, completely washed of any guys and blood, making dinner.

"Took you long enough."

The look on Carl's face was priceless. Daryl came over and ruffled my hair, Michonne sat across from me, and gave me a soft smile.

"Well, I'll be damned," Rick said, clapping me on the shoulder.

I smiled at him and handed them the bag of already cooked squirrel meat.

They all looked at me in surprise.

"What? I figured you'd be hungry and I had time."

The night passed peacefully. Everyone was safe and fed. Daryl was on watch, Michonne and Rick were a little ways away, discussing something softly. Carl had his hat next to his head as he was laying down with his hands behind his head.

I layed down next to him, enjoying the cool night breeze and the clear night sky. I don't know how long I stared up at the sky, but eventually I fell asleep.

For once, I didn't dream of anything.

 **.A/N.**

 **Alright, next chapter they will reach Terminus. They're gonna have some fun in Terminus. Definitely not gonna play out like it did in the show (or comics for that matter). The plot will begin to thicken starting next chapter. I don't wanna give away too much yet.**

 **New characters will be introduced, I'll tell you that. As always please drop a review for me, they are my motivation for writing. Suggestions, comments, theories, and criticisms are always welcome here.**

 **See ya next time,**

 **~WiseChic~**


	6. Terminus

I fling my bag up into a tree before climbing up and securing it with a rope.

"Why?" Carl looks from me to the bag in the tree.

"Just in case. I don't trust this place. If things go bad, I don't want them to have my bag," I shrug and readjust my belt with my machete.

"I was thinking the same thing, to be honest. Can never be too careful," Rick nods at me. He, too, stashes a bag with most of our weapons in it and some water bottles.

We decide to come in through the back. I have a horrible feeling about this place.

If this place was a safe haven...where are all the people?

When we enter a building with a group of people who tell us to show us all of their weapons, the feeling grows. As they escort us back to the front, I smell it. Meat. Cooked meat.

My mouth wants to water at the smell. Then we stop and I realize something.

There were no noises. I can't hear any animals. I have a sinking suspicion. Then, Rick draws his gun and my thoughts are interrupted.

They have Glenn's watch. Used to be someone named Herschel's watch. They told me about it earlier.

I slowly draw my machete. Glancing around us.

" _Snipers!"_ I hiss, Rick looks around at the gunmen on the rooftops, the gun aimed at the Terminus leader's head never wavering.

I don't register who fired the first shot, but then we are running. They're shooting at our feet, blocking our path with bullets. Corraling us, I realize with dread.

We end in a sort of courtyard after coming out of a room that looked like a satanic ritual spot, at first glance.

We are completely surrounded.

Rick is farthest from me, Daryl on his right, Michonne on Daryl's right, I'm next to Michonne, and Carl is next to me.

I don't listen to the leader's bullshit speech about how it could've ended differently. I glared at that man with intense hatred, if looks could kill, he'd be a smoking pile of ash on that rooftop.

They made us give up our weapons. I never lose eye contact with him, even as I remove my machete from my belt and drop it on the ground, nor as I place my crossbow on the ground next to it.

"Ringleader, you're first."

Rick, I'm sure is glaring holes into that man's head as he makes his way to the armed man by the crate.

"Archer!" Daryl does the same, I'm certain.

"Samurai!" Michonne makes her way over.

I can feel the worried stares of the adults as both Carl and I are left to the mercy of this man.

"Little Huntress!" I practically growl at him and spit on the ground.

"Feisty! But, if you keep acting up, you'll be punished," His eyes hardened and his tone was decidedly predatory.

My eyes never leave his as I walk over to where Rick, Daryl and Michonne are standing in a line.

My eyes move to Carl, we're all watching him. The leader ponders for a moment before deciding what to do with Carl, whose eyes looked positively murderous, as all of ours did.

"Alright, kid, you, too."

Carl practically stalks over to us, and I grab his hand to keep him from doing anything rash, last thing we need is a poorly planned outburst. We'd be dead in seconds.

They file us all into the crate, but the guard keeps me behind. My eyes narrow, I forget about poorly planned outbursts, and before his hand had even made contact with me, I punch him right in his nose, I hear the crack of it breaking, and see the blood covering his face.

"You little bitch!" He grabs me roughly by the arms, throwing me into the crate. I rear and go to throw myself at him again, all fury and rage, but he slams the door shut and I'm left banging my fists on the wall of the crate.

After a few minutes, I calm down, breathing heavily. Then, another body collides with me. I stiffen immediately and prepare to strike the body, but then I hear,

"Terra! You're alive!" It's Rachel. I turn to look and confirm, my eyes adjusting to the darkness of the crate.

"R-Rachel?" I'm kneeling on the ground, shocked, as she hugs me tightly. Then, I'm smothered by another body.

"I was so worried," This voice was calm, steady, with a hint of relief. Elena.

"Elena?" I'm still shaken by their presence. I had lost count of how long it had been since we had been separated.

Soon we're all a crying mess. I'm vaguely aware of Rick's group having a similar reunion.

We wipe our tears and stand.

I look at them with a question in my eyes. Their solemn expressions say they haven't seen Judith either.

"Only the letter," Elena says.

"Same," I sigh.

Hopefully, she was was smart enough to stay away.

Time passes strangely in the crate. I can't tell what time of day it is until the door opens and they deliver food. I was so caught up in the reunion that I forgot about my suspicions.

I began pacing.

They all watched me. I paced. They watched. I pace. They watch.

I gasp and they all jump at the sudden noise, my head snaps up in realization.

"Terra? What's up?" Carl asks carefully.

" _How did I not realize sooner?"_ I say, more than a little terrified.

They're all looking at me like I've gone bonkers.

My pace quickens as my thoughts spill out rapid-fire.

" _The grill, the meat, the room, the crate, the food!"_ I pick up the ignored plate of food, taste some of it. Potatoes.

" _Starch!"_ None of them are seeing the connection that I see.

Elena is watching me carefully, thinking. It hits her. Her eyes widen, mouth slightly agape.

I stop pacing, swirling around to face the group as a whole. I connect the dots for them.

"Don't you think it's a little weird a safe haven would not be bustling with human life? I haven't seen a single animal here either, so where are they getting there meat from? What reason would they have for locking up total strangers in a crate? Feeding us starchy foods instead of starving us? Why didn't they just kill us, if they just wanted our stuff? Why? _Why go through all this trouble?"_ I asked all of this, realization dawning on most of their faces.

I connected the final dot, "That room wasn't ritualistic, or satanic. It was a _memorial_ ," I stress that word before hitting home, "For everyone they've _eaten._ "

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Tara says, looking green.

There was a flurry of conversation afterwards, a plan of action, and Rick ended it with some strong words.

"They're fuckin' with the wrong people."

They threw a wrench in our plan. Throwing smoke bombs in, instead of food. They drag a couple people out including Rick, a large man named Abraham, and an Asian named Glenn, before slamming the door shut.

"They're going to kill them," The white woman with the thick Southern accent was near tears.

Rachel goes to comfort her, "There, there, Maggie, they'll make it out of there."

"All we can do is wait," Elena says, trying to remain calm, for everyone's sake.

I sit next to Carl, whose face is grim, his knees are bent with his arms resting on them. I lean my head against his shoulder. His hands grip the fabric of his jeans tightly. I know he's worried.

He should be.

I don't know how long we wait, but I was beginning to doze off when we all hear it, jumping to my feet I'm on high alert.

An explosion, a big one.

Beyond that, we hear it. The drone of the undead.

A herd is coming.

A herd is here.

.A Few Days Earlier.

I readjust the gun on my back. We'd just arrived at a small house, tucked away from any danger of shufflers. Tyreese and Carol clear the house, I'm on babysitting duty. The child in question drools on my shoulder, oblivious to any danger she might be in. Then there were the sisters.

Mika was incredibly responsible for her age. Really, weirdly mature. But, she was a sweetheart and understood that shufflers had to be killed.

Then there was the other one. Lizzie.

Lizzie was a little psychopath in the making. Gave me the creeps. She thought that shufflers were her "friends," and they "weren't any different," than us. Crazy.

She actually cried when we killed shufflers. Carol comes out and tells us we can come in. I let Lizzie and Mika go in front of me, I don't trust Lizzie as far as I could throw her.

Everything was going sort of well. We had to gun down some charred shufflers, Lizzie reluctantly helped, although she was the reason they showed up.

Then, she was upset because Carol killed a shuffler that was chasing her in the yard, insisting that they were playing _Tag_.

All of that I could deal with, even the weird "look at the flowers and count" thing Mika had Lizzie do when she got upset was reasonable.

But, nothing could have prepared me for realizing that girl was a murderer.

We heard a scream and Carol, Tyreese, and I rushed outside to see what happened.

Mika...

There was so much blood.

Lizzie had... Lizzie had _stabbed_ her own _sister_ in the _heart._

I emptied the contents of my stomach on the ground next to me. Tears burning in my eyes.

Mika was dead and that little bitch was gonna try and kill Little Judith, too.

Lizzie had the nerve to pull a gun on us, insisting that she could prove that when Mika woke up she'd be exactly the same.

Carol talks her down and Tyreese takes Mika away to prevent her from coming back. I grabbed Judith, calming her down. Carol talks with Lizzie.

We leave her playing outside, and talk inside where we can see her through the window.

"She has to die," I spit out.

"I can't... I promised I'd..." Carol seemed lost, unable to form an excuse for Lizzie.

Even Tyreese agreed with me, "We can't keep her with us, she's more likely to kill us than the walkers."

Carol reached that conclusion a long time ago, I'm sure.

She goes outside without another word.

We watch her walk with Lizzie out a little ways away, visibly upset.

We see Lizzie turn around, counting flowers no doubt. Carol raise her gun.

A single gunshot is fired.

The following silence is deafening.

We don't look back as we leave the grove behind having buried both Mika and Lizzie there, together, with yellow flowers to mark the graves.

Onwards and forwards.

To Terminus we go.

.Present Day.

Carol and I separate from Tyreese to scope out the area. I leave Little Judith with him, entrusting her to his care.

I have the sniper rifle on my back. Carol has a pair of binoculars and we watch the exchange occur below us. I can't make out faces, but Carol is sure that at least the rest of _her_ group is down there.

We formulate a rescue plan which includes me making things go boom and her sneaking her way through a herd that's quickly getting to Terminus. Carol knows what she has to do and I simply wait for her signal. Hours pass, the night passed. Hopefully, she hadn't run into any trouble. She felt bad for anyone unfortunate enough to get in Carol's way.

It's early morning, the sun only having risen an hour or so ago. A rustling behind me draws my attention.

A group of three men approach me.

"Hiya, fellas!" I greet cheerfully. They aim their guns at me.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, that's not very nice. I was just scoping the place out, I saw your signs, wanted to see if they were true," I half-lie.

Their guns lower, "Oh, we'll escort you to the entrance then, we're just doing our rounds," His words said friendly neighbor guy, his voice said serial killer neighbor.

"Lead the way!" My hand rests on my holster where my pistol is. Behind me, I hear the signal, a single flare pops off. As they turn around to investigate, I pull out my pistol, shooting one in the chest, and another in the leg before taking cover behind a tree. I hear the thump of the one I shot in the chest hit the ground, hopefully bleeding out.

"Fuck! The bitch shot me!" I roll my eyes. I don't have time for a dramatic shootout. I thank my lucky stars that I had a silencer on my gun and wouldn't attract unnecessary and unwanted attention. I hear a scream, and then 2 gunshots. I assume that the one I shot earlier did die, reanimated and bit one of the other two, most likely the one I shot in the leg. I hear a twig snap to my left and I drop to one knee and fire two shots, both hitting home. I approach the last of the 3 men, surprisingly the one I had shot in the leg had survived while the other was bitten. I quickly put a bullet in each of their heads for good measure.

I quickly set up my rifle and aim at the large propane tank just in time for the first of the walkers to reach the fences.

I steady my breathing. I take a deep breath...aim...FIRE!

The first shot hits but doesn'thave the intended effect.

I take aim once more. I fire another bullet, this time the propane tank explodes blowing the nearby fencing to smithereens.

Walkers pour into the compound.

I smirk to myself, standing up, slinging my rifle across my back, "Judith - One, Terminus - Zero."

 **.A/N.**

 **Heeeeere ya go. Little longer than the others, I knew where I wanted to stop, but the middle parts were just flowing out. So, the gang's at Terminus, Terra's been reunited with most of her group.**

 **From this point forward, the plot will actually progress now that all the main characters of this story have been introduced.**

 **Should I start replying to reviews? I've considered it, but never did. If you want me to respond to reviews lemme know and I'll do my best.**

 **Also: Personal note, I've just moved houses, and I'm settling in to new routines so my updates may come slower or faster as I get used to it.**

 **Until Next Time!**

 **~WiseChic~**


	7. The Great Escape

The door of the crate creaks open eventually, revealing Rick and the others.

A handful of weapons for the entire group are handed out, most of us have nothing. As we make our way towards the exit, we scavenge weapons from dead Terminus people, and broken pieces of metal littering the ground. All the while we are dodging shufflers as the herd is attracted to the loud gunfire of the Terminus people and the smell of living flesh.

Left and right I'm smacking the ugly bitches with my metal pipe. Somehow our group, nearing the fence by the forest gets split.

Suddenly, it's me with my pipe, Carl and Daryl with guns. The undead have surrounded us, I'm covering our rear as Carl and Daryl try to clear a path. From the other side of the fence I see everyone with guns trying to help clear a path, drawing attention away from us and shooting at the undead in front of us.

"No!" I turn, Rachel and Elena have hopped over the fence, whacking their way back to us. It was Glenn who yelled that. We meet in the middle and suddenly Rachel and Elena are flanking me, helping keep the walkers off Carl and Daryl while simultaneously clearing a path.

"Terra, watch out!"

I react late.

.Judith.

After the propane tank blew, I make my way into the compound, avoiding shufflers as much as possible. Eventually, by luck I come across the weapons stash.

"Oh, thank God!" I whisper, shoving weapons in my duffel. I manage to grab Elena and Rachel's sword thingies (So they were here!), a few guns, and ammo. Then, I hear footsteps.

Obviously, I quickly take my leave back the way I came. The herd has thickened in this area and I make a mad sprint through the herd, making my way back to the gate.

Several meters from the gate, I'm cornered by a crate.

Nowhere left to go but up. I think to myself. Using a nearby fence that managed to stay upright I climb the chain, kicking at shufflers as they tried to grab at my ankles. I climb on top of the crate, breathing heavy.

I hear, "No!" And turn to the voice. I lol through the lens of my rifle and see them.

Rachel and Elena. Their headed towards a group a little ways away from the fence.

Terra! And two others... They are fighting their way to the fence but are sorely outnumbered by shufflers even with Rachel and Elena's help.

I keep an eye on the group, trying to make sure no shuffler catches them by surprise.

I catch a shuffler that slipped past Rachel and Elena's crude club-like objects.

I aim and fire, shooting it right in the head, as Terra turns to react.

"Bulls-eye!" I smirk, Terra follows the bullet's path and looks at me, I tip my cowboy hat and she beams in my general direction.

I provide covering fire as they make their way to the fence, and climb over. The shufflers in my area have mostly cleared out. I carefully jump down from the crate, careful not to make any noise.

As I land on the ground and gather my stuff...

Bam!

All I see as my vision darkens are dark silhouettes.

.Terra.

I was relieved when the bullet hit the shuffler. Relieved when we made it to the fence. Relieved when we got over the fence.

But when I saw them take her.

Oh, I was furious. Livid. Enraged. Words didn't even begin to describe how I felt. I would raze Heaven and Hell to get to her and Rachel and Elena knew it.

When I turned around and saw her body drop, I rushed the fence, Rachel grabbed me by my arm and Elena grabbed me by the other arm and yanked me off the fence I was already half way up. When I shook them off, Carl stood in front of me and I collided with him, both of us falling to the ground.

He had me tight around the waist as I struggled to pry his fingers off.He manages to roll me over and pins my wrists above my head. He's breathing heavy, his eyes hinting at anger. My breathing is ragged. My eyes wild. I'm thrashing underneath him, yelling obscenities at him. He patiently waits for me to calm down, the shufflers at the fence still clawing at us.

I hear footsteps approaching, the rest of the group is here.

I stop thrashing, my eyes locked on his. His blue eyes are steel, hard and cold. Mine are like a volcano, erupting with emotion, wild, untamed heat.

Everyone silently watches our battle of wills.

Slowly, the anger dissipates and dissolves into something else: despair.

I was so close. She was so close.

Carl sees the change and releases me, kneeling next to me.

I'm kneeling now and suddenly Carl is right there with me. Comforting me, Elena and Rachel rest a hand on my back.

"It's not fair," I whisper as the tears slowly leave tracks in the grime on my face.

And then my voice of reason appears.

"Life isn't," I look up at Elena, everyone probably thinking it's harsh, but I know better.

"There's no point to tears," Rachel's soft smile convinces me to stand, take a deep breath, and wipe my tears.

Carl steps away from me, before smirking at me, "So does this count towards our competition of who owes who more?"

I punch his arm lightly, "You'll always owe me more, Little Grimes, remember that."

That breaks the tension and we're all laughing.

Suddenly, there's a rustle in the trees and a figure covered in shuffler guts emerges with a large black man holding a baby.

"Is that a-" I start.

"Carol!" Daryl.

"Tyreese!" The one named Sasha.

"Ju-" Carl falters next to me. I remember now that he said he had a baby sister named Judith, but he thought she had died in the prison or something.

" _Judith_!" I can hear the brokenness, and raw agony in Rick's voice when he says her name. They both walk forward tentatively, before bursting into a run, taking Judith from Tyreese's arms and sinking to the ground, in tears.

I smile softly at them.

 _At least they got_ their _Judith back._

Rachel grabs my fist which I had unknowingly been clenching to the point that I had broken skin and small beads of blood rose from the half-crescents in my palm. She slowly pulls my fingers into a relaxed position and holds our hands together, kissing them.

Elena offers me a steady look, an unwavering gaze that told me we wouldn't give up until we had our Judith back.

I glance up as I feel a tap on my shoulder. Carl is holding Judith, her eyes watching me curiously, she was all chubby cheeks and wide-eyed stares.

I offered her a small smile. She giggled.

It was the purest sound I'd ever heard.

She reaches a tiny, chubby hand out at me, I grab hold of it.

.Carl.

Terra is completely absorbed by Judith. She holds her hand, completely oblivious to the world around her.

Judith makes incoherent baby noises at her, and reaches towards her for her to hold her.

Terra takes her no problem and soon Judith is fast asleep on her shoulder, but I never take my eyes off of her, neither does my dad.

I still can't believe she's alive.

I owe Tyreese and Carol the world for saving her. I can't describe all the emotions I feel when I see her alive and well, chubby cheeks and curious eyes.

My baby sister. The only reminder left of my mom.

Terra is quietly humming to Judith as Carol and Tyreese talk about their journey. They mention Terra's Judith often during the second half of their story. Terra's humming becomes more strained. Finally, it stops altogether.

"Where's Judith? Is she with you?" Carol looks over the group, searching.

Terra bites her lip, you can barely hear her response.

"They took her," She whispers almost disbelieving. Almost like she just realized that they had taken her. It had just fully sunk in.

They had no reason to keep her alive.

They were going to kill her.

And then they were going to eat her.

 **.A/N.**

 **Sorry it's a little shorter. Been a little busy lately and things are kinda tense in my house rn.**

 **I'm tryna get back on track for my writing schedule.**

 **As always Read and Review!**

 **P.S. I'm considering starting to draw again and if I do I'll draw my characters and post them on my IG.**

 **Till next time,**

 **~WiseChic~**


	8. Get Away

I only saw black. I could hear voices, but they were warbled. Indistinguishable.

Then the darkness is lifted and I'm blinded by sunlight.

"Morning, Sunshine. You're gonna tell us where your friends are."

.Carl.

Terra is silent as we walk. I've begun to lose track of how long we've been walking. We're almost out of drinking water, what little we have everyone insists on giving it to Judith, the youngest of us. The most vulnerable of us.

I still can't believe she's alive, she's living and breathing in front of me.

Insane.

Terra suddenly makes a sharp right turn, stomping into the woods. I make to go after her before Elena, the oldest one, probably a little younger than my dad, stops me and gently pushes me forward.

"AH!" A grunt of effort is heard where Terra went off and she shortly returns to the road, breathing heavy and clenching her fists.

My dad slows down to match her pace. They slow down until they're a few paces behind the group and talk in low voices together. I can only catch bits and pieces.

"...eat...Judith...shufflers...Terminus,"

"..patience...revenge...focus...Terminus,"

Whatever they were discussing, they'd hopefully share soon.

I focused on the road in front of me. We needed to find shelter. We reach a section of the road with several trails leading into the forest.

Terra's group stops at one of them. As I open my mouth to say something, my dad puts a hand on my shoulder, trying to push me forward.

The group continues walking, slower, glancing back several times, but I shove my dad's hand off and run over to Terra, Rachel, and Elena.

"You're leaving," I say it as a statement, not a question. She nods.

"I have to find her, and I won't rest until I do," Terra says determination in her eyes.

"You don't have to do it alone, we can help you," I try to reason with her, "Strength in numbers."

She smiled kindly at me, it's probably the softest facial expression I'd ever seen on her.

"I'll miss you, too, Carl."

Elena takes my hat off to ruffle my hair, and Rachel gives me a hug. They're an affectionate group in their own weird way.

Terra stares at me for a long time. I stare back.

She grabs my hand, leaning up to place a soft kiss on my lips. She lingers there for awhile, "For good luck," she whispers in my ear.

She laughs, her hands on her hips, eyes sparkling.

"I don't need luck, Terra," I cross my arms, rolling my eyes at her.

"Oh you _so_ do. You'd be dead 3 times over without me," She smirks.

"Okay lovebirds. Let's go while we have the light," Elena interjects.

Both of us turn to her with horror, " _Lovebirds!"_

"Aww they're even synchronized," Rachel playfully mocks.

Both of us grumble a few choice words about them to ourselves.

Terra stomps off, "Let's just go find Judith."

Elena and Rachel wave goodbye to the rest of our group.

When I walked back to my group I was met with teasing about my first kiss from Michonne, which was terrible because they were all making a big deal out of something so unimportant.

.ooo.

We don't see Terra, Rachel, or Elena again for awhile. They never found Judith either.

.Terra.

"Terra's got a little crush I see," Elena nudges me with her elbow.

"I do _not_. Please relax," I roll my eyes.

The teasing didn't stop for a horrifying few days.

Sly remarks, innuendos, suggestive winks, you'd think they were the teenagers in the group.

But I understood.

It took our minds off of the worry, the fear, the disappointment.

Days turned into weeks, we still hadn't found her and I was slowly losing my mind. We combed every inch of the woods, searching for her or the Terminus group with little to show for it.

Every night was the same: take turns for watch, sleep, kill a shuffler or two, repeat the next night.

Every day was the same: avoid shufflers, kill shufflers, look for Judith, eat, look for Judith, kill shufflers, find campsite, repeat.

Lather, rinse, repeat. Lather, rinse, repeat. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The only thing that kept me sane was remembering the good times.

Before the Turn.

.ooo.

 _"Terra!" Judith yells out, "Mom says come inside."_

 _I groan, but come inside anyway, wiping my feet on the mat inside the door._

 _I'm ten years old, there's no harm in me playing outside._

 _Judith is eight years old, all long flowing hair and toothless, goofy grins._

 _"I'm going to head home soon, Miss."_

 _"Nonsense, Terra, I'll drive you."_

 _Judith's mom was a ray of sunshine. A strong, single Dominican woman who filled the room with her smiles. She and her family had moved down from the Bronx about 5 years ago, to get away from the urban life._

 _Judith having been 3 when she moved here and doesn't remember much about New York._ _This place is all she knows. Atlanta._

 _Judith and I are the only kids in our age group on the street. There are kids way older than us, like fifteen and sixteens, and there's really young kids, like toddlers. So, naturally, we hang out together a lot._

 _"Mami, can she stay the night?" Judith begs her mom, I stand next to her not meeting anyone's eyes. I live with a foster family, and it's common knowledge they don't particularly care what I do, and therefore I can do what I want, when I want._

 _Judith's mom puts a hand on my cheek, making me look her in the eye. There was so much warmth there, even though she was clearly exhausted from cooking and cleaning all day and working all night, she always had time for us, for me._

 _"Terra is always welcome in our home," I beam in response._

 _This was the family I'd always wanted._

.Judith.

"Get back here!"

 _Like Hell I will._

My muscles are burning from how long I've been running, my hands are still tied together in front of me, but my legs are free.

Free to run from these psychopaths.

If the Turn taught me anything, it's how to run.

My legs are screaming, my face hits branches and scratches are probably all along my face. The forest floor is a maze of tree roots and shrubbery and I have some difficulty not tripping on them.

A tree explodes next to me, they've shot at me. They completely missed, but they are trying to shoot me.

I finally hit the road, but I have to get out of the open before they catch up. I sprint across the road back into the forest.

Right now, it's the safest place for me.

"Agh!" My leg screams in pain, a bullet has lodged itself in my calf.

I continue to run, trying to ignore the pain, but it's slowing me down, I can feel it.

"Oof!" I'm tackled from behind. I struggle to get out from under the leader of the psychopaths.

"You are so much trouble, kid. I like it," I spit in his face, as a response.

He wipes his face before taking his gun out.

His sadistic smile is the last thing I see before everything goes black.

 **.A/N.**

 **You guys are gonna hate me if you dont already. This is gonna be the last chapter I post for a little bit.**

 **A few reasons: My mom was in the hospital after she had a seizure in the middle of the night and was there for almost a week and a half which was pretty rough.**

 **Second, I am getting into testing season and boy oh boy do I have a lot of stuff going on in the next month.**

 **So yeah, that's why this chapter is kind of a filler because I just don't really have the time right now to be writing.**

 **If you read all of that then thank you for all the support you guys are awesome. Your reviews mean the world to me so please drop one.**

 **Until next time,**

 **~WiseChic~**


	9. We're Okay

.1 Month Later.

"Fuck!"

"Watch your language, Terra."

"She was taken, El! Both of them were! Fuck!"

Two weeks ago Rachel was taken by people in an unmarked car. Her sword was left on the ground as they drove away. Shufflers, attracted to the roar of the engine, encircled us, El and I had enough time to grab Rachel's weapon and start running before they came out of the woods.

"We'll never find them at this rate, El," I punched the ground I'm sitting on, grinding my knuckles into the dirt.

El sits on a tree stump, off to the side, sharpening her blade with a rock.

She pauses her blade maintenance, "We'll find them." Her tone is final. She continues sharpening the blade.

.Carl.

We're back in Atlanta. We met a boy named Noah. He told us about this Hospital, he knows Beth. She's in there.

My father's plan is to go in there and get her. We already lost Herschel, we can't lose Beth, too. Maggie would be destroyed.

"This is so stupid. Police. Trapping "patients." This some horror movie type shit," Her arms are wrapped around my shoulders from behind.

"Our whole existence is a horror movie right now, Judith."

"Point taken." She sits next to me, resting her head on my shoulder.

We found Judith when the Terminus survivors came for us. They had taken Bob, ate his leg. Bob had been bitten already though and he died soon after because of it. They sent Judith in first, as bait or to gauge our intention.

In the end, it didn't matter. We killed them all in that church. I'm only disappointed that I couldn't kill any of them personally.

I sigh, putting my arm around Judith's shoulders.

"I'm tired of losing people, Ju," She hums in agreement.

"Food's ready, kids."

Daryl places a couple of opened canned beans in front of us. The worn down sofa we are sitting in creaks as Judith shifts to lay across the seat, resting her legs on my lap. The building we're in looks like a loft that is the size of a parking garage. Noah sits across from us, quiet.

He seems like a good kid, but I don't trust him yet.

Judith is less suspicious.

"Noah, right?" He looks up at the sound of his name.

Judith stands up with the grace of a dancer and crosses in front of me to move around the table. Can of beans in hand she sits on the table, directly in front of Noah.

She sticks the can out so it's right in front of his face.

"Eat," She commands. Her tone left no room for disobedience.

He tentatively grabs the can and spoon and eats a spoonful of beans.

"Good, keep doing that. You'll need your energy," She reclaims her spot on our couch and drapes her legs across my lap once again.

Judith and I split the other can of beans.

"Thank you."

Both of us look up in surprise, we aren't even sure Noah said anything at first.

"I'm sorry she couldn't escape with me, if it wasn't for her I wouldn't have escaped at all."

Judith nods, "I don't know Beth, but I'm sure she doesn't hold it against you."

"I know Beth, and I'm sure she doesn't."

"She'll be able to tell you in person by tomorrow, Noah." My father's rough voice chimes in as he places a hand on my shoulder.

Noah's face shows grim determination.

"Get some rest, everyone," Dad says, "We'll need to be on top of our game to get her back."

I lay sideways on the couch so my head rests opposite of Judith's. She shifts afterwards so that her head is tucked underneath my chin, her arms wrapped tightly around my waist.

Having gotten used to this being the sleeping arrangement the past 3 weeks, no one says anything about it. Judith is extremely affectionate when no one's life is in danger and craves physical contact. Whenever we sleep, she curls against me and refuses to leave my side.

I let my arm rest across her waist lightly.

Slowly, I hear people's breathing slow and the soft snores of our group fill the silence. I start to drift off.

"Think we'll find her?" Judith's voice is barely above a whisper, but it cuts through the silence nonetheless.

"Beth is stubborn, we'll find her," I say, half-asleep.

"I meant...nevermind," I hear a soft sniffle and Judith goes quiet.

I realize she didn't mean Beth.

"Terra will find us long before we find her, she's weird like that," I feel Judith smile against my chest.

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks Carl," She presses a soft kiss to my cheek and just like that she's asleep, and I'm wide awake.

I sigh, cheeks burning.

.Terra.

"We're lost, aren't we?"

"We're not lost, Terra," El is probably rolling her eyes at me as she travels in front of me.

We have been traveling in the woods for what felt like years, although in reality it had only been a few days.

Suddenly, we break through the woods onto the road.

"See," She says, only _slightly_ out of breath, "Not lost."

There's a running car with rations in it. El and I look at each other, draw our weapons, and approach the car.

There's nobody in the car. However, there was somebody outside of it.

A lone man, in a red jacket.

El raises her sword and I raise my crossbow.

He puts his hands up, smiling like this is perfectly normal.

"Hi there, my name is Aaron. I wanted to know if you'd join me."

.Several Hours Later.

"Alexandria?" El says, question evident in her voice.

"A safe haven. Pfft. I'll believe when I see it," I scoff at him.

"It's very safe! We've been growing since the world ended. We are always looking for more people to join our community," Aaron tells us.

"Little far out for recruitment don't ya think?" El was of course looking at a map that showed Alexandria to be located near D.C. while we were in South Carolina right now having crossed the border last night.

"Well aren't you traveling North anyway?"

My eyes narrowed in suspicion, "How would you know that?"

Realizing his mistake, Aaron started stuttering his excuse to us.

"Spit it out, Aaron," El fixed him with a dead-eyed stare.

"Aaron," I say, "Were you following us?"

He doesn't look us in the eye as he nods.

"You have to understand, we want to make sure that we don't bring ill-intentioned people into the community. There are women there, children, families!"

"We're both women, and I'm technically a child so your argument is invalid," I point out.

"Take us there."

"El!" I turn to her, betrayal evident on my face.

"Don't give me that look. We were headed there anyway, we might as well go check it out, Terra."

I start packing my stuff, "Fine. But, for the record, I'm going to complain the entire time."

El doesn't even try to contain her laughter.

Aaron smiled and helped us clean up.

About an hour later our bags are packed in the car along with us. Now we're on the road to Alexandria.

"Why did you come out so far, Aaron?" I asked, staring out the window at the occasional shuffler.

"I try not to come back until I've found at least 1 person and there's just not any people in our region anymore and most people moved out West I think to the places with smaller populations."

"Why didn't you?"

A beat of silence.

"Significant other. Couldn't come along this time because we couldn't spare more than one person. Swore it would be the last time I went alone," He laughs and I can see his eyes sparkle in the rearview mirror.

"You're gay," El says, not accusatory, but matter-of-factly.

"I-uh," He stutters before regaining his composure, "Yes. I am. Are you...okay with that?"

I watch his knuckles tighten nervously on the wheel.

"Does it matter?" I can practically hear the eye roll, "You love who you love, there's no changing that. Who cares about others' opinion?"

His knuckles relax on the wheel, I lean forward in between the front seats.

"Regardless, El is gay as hell so it's chill," El smacks me lightly which makes me laugh and causes Aaron to laugh, too.

A comfortable silence descends into the car. Aaron is focused on driving, El is reclined in her seat likely trying to sleep, and I am staring at the scenery as it passes in a blur outside the window. Trees, shrubs, shufflers... they all just blur together.

At some point, I am lulled to sleep by it.

.Carl.

Numb.

That's the only way to describe how we all feel.

Beth is dead. Beth is dead.

Beth is dead.

I don't think I've ever heard a sound like the one Maggie made when that bullet hit Beth's head.

That policewoman met her end soon after and before anything could escalate _she_ stepped forward.

.Two Days Ago.

"Stop!"

Both sides stop at the voice coming from behind the policemen.

A woman cuts through them to stand in the middle of the two sides, to the side of Beth and the policewoman's lifeless bodies.

"Just stop," When she turns to face us, there's a collective gasp.

It's Rachel. My hand immediately drops to grab Judith's before she does something rash.

"An eye for an eye, they're both dead, it's time to move on."

Somehow even standing there in ragged clothes, she looks formidable. Her back is straight, her eyes are blazing, she is fearless in the face of two large groups with weapons pointed straight at her.

"I'm leaving with them, we are taking Noah, and we're taking Beth's body as well," She directs this at the side she came from, "There will be no more blood shed today." This is directed at both sides.

For some reason, they listened when she spoke and we left with no other casualties. When we exited the building, her shoulders dropped and she fell to her knees, Judith embraced her there, silently comforting her. I could visibly see the energy leave her body.

Maggie and Daryl cried over Beth.

.Present Day.

I can't remember if I cried or not, sometimes that whole memory doesn't feel real to me. Beth isn't dead. All of us are safe and happy. We're okay.

We're okay.

.Terra.

"We're almost there, just a couple more miles," Aaron is visibly excited, El is awake and constantly scanning the surroundings. I'm...indifferent?

I don't think the notion of being safe has registered for me. Or maybe I'm too much of a skeptic. Maybe I just don't believe in fairy tales and happy endings.

However, thirty minutes later, I'm in awe.

"I don't believe it," my voice is barely above a whisper as I stare at the tall metal walls in front of me. Aaron gets out the car, and the person at the top of the massive iron gate signals to someone.

The gate creaks open as another person opens up the two layers between their community amd the outside world.

And then I hear it.

Laughter. Child's laughter.

Aaron slowly pulls the car into the community. I can barely take in all of the new things surrounding me. Houses. Real houses that are not broken-down and picked over.

Paved streets, green grass, couples, familes, living, breathing _people._

I'm almost overwhelmed by all of it.

I grab onto El's arm tightly as we get out the car. El is hiding it well, but I can tell she's just as excited and in awe as I am. Aaron embraces another man a few yards away from us.

An older lady approaches us, she's dressed business casual which I didn't realize was even a thing anymore, not after the apocalypse, "Good afternoon, ladies. My name is Deanna. Welcome to Alexandria."

Vaguely, I hear the gate closing. I hear the clang as it shuts and locks behind us.

"I'm Elena, this is Terra. Nice to meet you, Ms. Deanna," Elena ever the polite one addresses her with "Ms." like every person of authority she meets.

"There's no need for formality, just call me Deanna, dear," Elena nods.

Deanna turns to me, "Terra is it?"

I nod in affirmation, "I am, in fact, Terra."

She laughs, "I hope you like it here, Terra. Both of you follow me, there's a few preliminary things to attend to."

"Like what," Elena went from respect to suspicion in under a second.

"I just want you to tell me about yourself, tell me who you are, what you've done, where you've been. Nothing too bad," She smiles like a politician.

Something is definitely off about this place. I realize that now. I can't place my finger on it, but something is definitely...off.

Regardless, I follow Deanna, and from the corner of my eye I see him. A boy, staring at me, two streets down. I stop and stare back.

"Terra?" El stops and calls out for me.

"Coming," I say looking away from the boy, when I look back he's walking away from me.

I catch back up with Deanna and El.

I am now _absolutely_ sure there's something off about this place. But, for the time being, we're safe. We're okay.

We're okay.

 **.A/N.**

 **Hey peeps!**

 **So I found some time to write this little piece. I appreciate the well wishes for my mom. She's okay now, out of the hospital and settled back in at home. She said thank you for the well wishes.**

 **My finals went well enough, too. So good vibes all around.**

 **Unfortunately, after this chapter, another hiatus. I have a really busy month ahead of me between a camping trip I go on tomorrow and then Girl's State.**

 **After that though, I will have time to write for the rest of summer vacation. Which I look forward too!**

 **As always, please drop a review and tell me what you think!**

 **Thank you for the continued support!**

 **Until next time,**

 **~WiseChic~**


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